Emile Hirsch

Often likened to River Phoenix and Leonardo DiCaprio for his boyish good looks and penchant toward portraying intense, but thoughtful characters, Emile Hirsch began his career as a teenaged guest acto...
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Could we be on the cusp of a Matthew McConaughey renaissance? Those familiar with the actor’s recent output – a couple of regrettable rom-coms and the straight-to-video-ish Surfer, Dude, with an inspired supporting gig in Tropic Thunder sandwiched in between -- might be inclined to scoff at the suggestion, and I’d have been inclined to scoff along with them before I witnessed his work in the new legal thriller The Lincoln Lawyer. McConaughey’s performance as Mick Haller, a bottom-feeding defense attorney who operates out of the backseat of his Continental, is drawing near-universal praise from critics, and for good reason: It’s terrific, a glowing reminder of what he's capable of when handed the right material.
And there’s reason to be optimistic that McConaughey’s resurgence might well hold: A glance at his pipeline reveals several intriguing upcoming projects: Killer Joe, a comedy co-starring Emile Hirsch and directed by William Friedkin; Bernie, in which he reunites with Dazed and Confused director Richard Linklater; and the Dallas Buyer’s Club, the true story of an AIDS patient-turned-pharmaceuticals smuggler, which Jean-Marc Vallee (The Young Victoria) is currently attached to direct. The pedigrees of the filmmakers involved and the conspicuous lack of Fools Gold- or Ghosts of Girlfriends Past-esque loglines happily indicate that a significant uptick in quality could be forthcoming.
Recently, McConaughey spoke with Hollywood.com about The Lincoln Lawyer and more in an exclusive phone interview:
Your character in this film works out of the back of a Lincoln Continental. I hear you've been known to use a vehicle as your office as well.
Oh yeah. I’ve always loved to customize my own cars and work out of them. I once had this 1996 Savana GMC van. I stripped out the back, put in a nice couch that unfolded into a bed, put in a big table with a bunch of AC hookups. I had a fax back there, a printer, everything. It was my mobile office, pretty much like Mick Haller’s in this film. And then I moved up to trailers, started customizing trailers, which I still do to this day. Part of its [appeal] is getting two things done at once: You’re moving, you’re heading somewhere, but you’re taking care of business on the way. And it’s still sometimes one of my favorite places to work.
Sounds like there might be some potential there for a side business.
Well, I’ve got some ideas about that, actually, about some McConaughey Signature Series mobile offices and live-in places.
Sign me up! When I saw The Lincoln Lawyer, it was at a special screening at Lionsgate, and you showed up along with Michael Connelly, the author of the book on which the film is based, to give a brief introduction beforehand. I noticed afterward that you stood in the back of the screening room throughout the entirety of the film. Is that something you do often?
No. I was there to introduce Connelly. And then when Connelly said, "Hey, hang out for the opening credits." Then the director [Brad Furman] called and said, "Check out the opening credits and see what you think because there's a new edit." So, I was just going to hang through the opening credits. And I stand and I'm watching the credits and I see what they did ... and then I just got kind of hooked. I'm watching the first scene and then the next one then the next one and then I'm halfway through it and I'm thinking, "Wait a minute, how does Haller get out of this?" [Laughs] I obviously know how, but I wanted to see it. Next thing you know, it's the final credits and I've been there the whole movie standing up.
Look, when I go see a movie that I've made, you gotta remember that usually it was filmed like a year ago. Nine months to a year is about how long ago you finish making a movie. And to come back and watch it -- I don't know, for me it's always been somewhat of an overwhelming experience because you're looking at three months of work, twelve hours a day, six days a week, compressed into two hours of film. And so every scene brings back lots of memories of, you know, the six hours it took to shoot that three-minute, four-minute scene. And sometimes they're easier to watch, sometimes they're not. But I'm pretty happy with Lincoln Lawyer. It was a lot of things I wanted to get across, and I think what we're all trying to get across happened. I think it's good. I think it's a good, strong, legal thriller. I think it's surprising as hell. It's got a killer cast. An all-star cast. It's the kind of movie I want to go see in the theater, you know?
Definitely. The cast is one of the hallmarks of this film. When you're working with multiple award-winners like Marisa Tomei and William H. Macy, does it compel you to sort of raise your own game?
Honestly? I've been asked that and it's always a good question. It's not about raising your game in the sense that you need to do more. A lot of times, it's about doing less. It's almost like you don't have to try as hard because you're dealing with someone who's good, who's easier to listen to. They're easier to react to. They're easier to believe.
That's an almost zen-like notion, accomplishing more by doing less.
Look, I had a lot of heavyweight stuff to deal with as this character, Mick Haller. Every scene for me is loaded. You know what I mean? Dealing with self-preservation, taking care of my family, their security, trying not to be arrested for a murder, trying to defend a guilty man and get an innocent man out of jail. I got a heavy load that's adding up on my shoulders in this film -- Mick Haller does. So I had of plenty to consider about where I was coming from and going to as a character. So, you know, what's uncomfortable and what makes it hard to act sometimes is going into scenes and going, "I'm not sure where I'm coming from or going in this scene and what it's about." That's when a scene can be tough.
It's certainly one of the more challenging characters I've seen you play in a while.
Yeah. The guy's up against massive challenges, dealing with consequences, and figuring how to get what he wants and what he believes is right. He's living his worst nightmare, and he's doing everything he can. He's a damn good lawyer and he knows the system, but he's having to pull jokers out of his sleeve and win certain things on sheer willpower and gamble and meddle, you know? So that's what dramas allow, more so than a comedy. It's real-life consequences. The blows, the punches really hurt. The bullets really land. The people really bleed. People really cry. People really enjoy victory. People really feel pain and defeat. You can love harder. You can cry harder. You can be more angry, harder. That's what dramas allow.
Were you looking to flex your dramatic muscles? I know you're coming off a stretch of comedies.
I liked the story. It was a legal drama that had a great page-turning thriller aspect, a whodunit cat-and-mouse chase. I just wanted to be the guy to get into those situations and play the guy who's gotta handle them. And then I read it and I was just like, I haven't done anything like this in awhile and it's exactly where I am and where I feel like being right now. So, that's where I dove in, you know?
You've got a lot of really interesting projects coming up. Do you see this perhaps as the beginning of a new stage of your career?
Maybe, you know? I'm not much for seeing things as full stops, fresh starts. I think it's all part of the same evolution and career, you know? I think, probably, another stage is worth saying. Or maybe another chapter, same book -- yeah, I'll go with that.
I just think there are certain parallels that can be made to the beginning of your career -- playing a lawyer again, like you did in your first big lead role, in A Time to Kill; reuniting with director Richard Linklater, whose 1993 film, Dazed &amp; Confused, gave you your breakout role; etc. I was just wondering if you were making a conscious attempt to re-connect with your acting roots.
Not that conscious, but I'm sure it's not coincidental. It's things I'm interested in right now, stories I'm really wanting to be a apart of, and directors like Rick who I really want to work with and find things with. Not consciously, though. But I guess when you say it that way, though, those are things I did do earlier in my career, and here I am doing them again.
The Lincoln Lawyer is now playing in theaters nationwide.

The original plot of Red Riding Hood, the centuries-old fairytale and inspiration for the new Warner Bros. movie, which opens this week, is hardly the stuff of which classic film adaptations are made. A girl goes out into the forest to deliver a package to her grandmother, meets a talking wolf on the way, later encounters said wolf in the guise of the her grandmother, is swallowed whole by him, and is eventually freed from his stomach when a friendly hunter traps and kills the wolf. That’s it. Tossing aside the weirdness of the cross-dressing bit, the gross irresponsibility of the girl’s parents, whose daughter clearly suffered from some sort of developmental disability (one that prevented her from distinguishing between human and canine) and should never have been allowed to leave the house, much less cross a forest apparently stocked with predatory talking animals, and the gruesome details of her eventual release from her gastrointestinal prison, the storyline seems a bit thin, even by the less-than-rigorous standards of modern Hollywood blockbusters.
And so the task fell to Catherine Hardwicke, director of the 2008 teen vampire blockbuster Twilight, to transform this simple and vaguely disturbing children’s fable into a scary and sexy and relatable Hollywood film. Hardwicke responded with a supernatural mystery-thriller, one with a shape-shifting werewolf, a steamy love triangle, and a protagonist, played by Amanda Seyfried, who is strong and independent and certainly not the type of dim bulb who would fall for some hairy forest creature’s crude impression of Grandma. In an exclusive interview, Hardwicke talked about adapting the beloved fairytale, the “insane” Ms. Seyfried, and the similarities between her new film and Twilight.
You’ve turned the "big bad wolf" into a shape-shifting werewolf. Is there a basis for that in the original story?
The folk tale, or fairytale, had all of these different origins around the world. Charles Perrault put down his version and the Brothers Grimm put their version down, but there really were versions before that had werewolves. Because the wolf has always been that intriguing creature … there was a werewolf trial in Germany in 1589 of this one character [Peter Stumpp]. People are so freaked out by wolves that they make them into these mythological beings. And that’s been going on for hundred of years. But David Leslie Johnson, our writer, he did expand on it. In all these stories, [the character] doesn’t have a name, and we don’t know the mother or the father or anything. He really built a whole rich world around her, with all the secrets and lies and the intrigue and stuff.
This version is certainly far sexier than any that I can remember.
Well, in a weird way, [the original stories] are kind of sexual. Like in this version [points to an illustration from a Red Riding Hood book] the wolf is in bed, and he’s trying to get her to get into bed with him. The wolf is cross-dressing. The little girl invites the wolf. She’s in touch with her sensuality. She’s out picking flowers and not staying on the path like her mom told her. She meets the wolf and the wolf says, “Where are you going?” And she admits she’s going to her grandmother’s and where the house is. She’s inviting that dark side, the dangerous side, into her life. So the seeds are all there, even in the original tale.
Red Riding Hood has a lot of aspects to it that are inevitably going to draw comparisons to your previous film, Twilight. Was it a conscious effort to explore those similar themes in a different setting?
You know, I sometimes wonder if maybe Stephenie Meyer was inspired by the original Red Riding Hood stories with the werewolf. There are some themes that keep coming up in life. Every romantic comedy has a love triangle. It’s kind of hard to have a romance without some conflict in it. It’s boring when two people are happy at the beginning of a movie and happy at the end! So pretty much you’ve kind of always got something like that going, some kind of obstacle or conflict. It’s kind of the basis of drama.
I think there are things I think you can feel are parallels [with Twilight]. All kinds of movies have things that we relate to. But I loved a lot of things in this that gave me new things to explore. For example, in Twilight I had to convince you that a vampire could live in the real world, show up at your high school and you wouldn’t even notice. In this case, I had the chance to create a whole new world that we haven’t seen and convince you of that reality, suspend your disbelief and escape into a fairytale world.
Was Amanda already attached to the project when you came aboard?
No, but she was really the first person I thought of for this project. I knew Amanda; she had been to my house a few times with Emile Hirsch. She used to go out with Emile for a while. And I loved her when I saw her at this benefit for autism. She was up there speaking and there were 10 speakers and with everybody else you were kind of dozing off. And she gets up there and reads a simple little passage and she’s very compelling and emotional, and she just kind of drew me in. So I kind of clocked her and just started watching all the cool, different things she does: Mean Girls – funny; Chloe – sexy; Mamma Mia! – charming. I’m like, man, this kid can do anything. She’s like insane. She kind of had to be it for me. She’s really a positive force.
And then you have Gary Oldman, who’s another force entirely.
Yeah, that was a really big honor for me, to work with Gary, because Sid and Nancy, The Professional, there’s so many things he’s done that have just blown my mind. He had read this part and gone after it and said, “I wanna do that.” I think he liked the ride that that character was going to be on. For me, at first I was a little bit intimidated – it’s Gary F*cking Oldman!!! It’s like, how badass is he? Even his first scene in Harry Potter, you go wow, he’s just got that presence. Whatever the part is, you can’t take your eyes off him. So the ability to work with him on this character, who felt like he’d been deceived, who had a personal connection to this werewolf thing, and who wanted to do the right thing but his obsession just grows and grows, how fun would that be?
And he eventually almost displaces the werewolf as the villain.
Exactly. I loved working with Gary – he’s very funny. You’ve gotta be on your toes with Gary. That was quite a challenge. He loves to work in just jeans and a t-shirt. He did not like wearing the armor or handling swords.
Really? Because he looks to me like he probably wakes up wearing a suit of armor.
Yeah. But he really likes to be comfortable. If he could do every movie in jeans in a t-shirt, I think he’d be pretty happy.
Throughout your career, you've demonstrated a considerable knack for working with young actors - Emile, Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, etc. Where do you think that comes from?
Well it started, of course, with Thirteen, and that was just like an organic thing. I’d written several other screenplays and had been trying to get them made. But none of them were getting made, and then suddenly my friend, Nikki [Reed], she had a lot of problems. She was thirteen at the time and she had a lot of issues … and that turned into a film, trying to find a sort of creative therapy to help her do something positive.
That’s a really dramatic time of life. The first time you get to drive a car, or drink, or kiss a boy, or whatever. A lot of fun sh*t happens to you! And your body changes. And the most dramatic stuff, the most suicides, the most car accidents, the most unwanted pregnancies, murders, everything happens when you’re like a teenager. It’s not boring. So I think that’s one reason why a lot of dramatic writers are drawn to that time. A lot of people make their first film based on their own teenage years and stuff. For me, I wrote that script [for Thirteen] with a thirteen-year-old. I didn’t try to write a script about a thirteen-year-old; I wrote it with her. I guess from the beginning I’ve just always listened to that voice, or those people, instead of just trying to say, “This is it.” I think that it’s more participatory, to make people a part of the process. Having Kristen [Stewart] part of the process of casting the guy, having Amanda part of the process guys in this movie, to make sure they have that chemistry, instead of me trying to dictate to people.
Red Riding Hood opens everywhere March 11, 2011.

I hope that I'm not alone in feeling fatigued with the almost daily casting rumors that set James Franco to play everything and everyone from Oz, The Great and Powerful to pornographer Chuck Traynor. Don't get me wrong, I love the guy. He's funny, he's cool and he's got genuine chops. But he's just not right for every role.
That's what makes the latest rumor, which just hit the web courtesy of ScreenCrave, even more nauseating. According to the source, Franco may be next in line to take the lead in Warner Bros. always-developing, never-shooting adaptation of the epic anime Akira. Zac Efron was attached to the project last we heard, but now it seems that Franco has pushed him off the line. What a surprise.
If you're not a nerd, you probably don't know what Akira is. You fail. The story's themes are all-encompassing and quite cerebral, but to break it down as best as I can, I'll say that it is a story set in a dystopian Tokyo and centers on a member of a biker gang who turns into a raging psionic psychopath that only two kids and a group of fellow psionics can stop. The destruction caused is devastating as are its implications about government and humanity. In short, it's science fiction at its best.
Leonardo DiCaprio's Appian Way is producing the feature, which is said to be directed by The Book of Eli's Hughes Brothers. DiCaprio was once set to star in the role that Franco may be getting (that of Kaneda), the gang leader who is friend to Tetsuo, the dangerous psionic. Lucky Leo would be a better fit for the part, but at almost 40 years old now (Titanic was a looooong time ago) he's too old to portray a teen biker. Efron is actually closest in age and look of Kaneda, but Franco obviously has more street cred. And balls. However, I'm at the point of Franco oversaturation. He seems to be rumored for nearly every big role up for grabs these days and that just seems a bit unfair. I say give Joseph Gordon Levitt a shot. Give Emile Hirsch a shot. Give SOMEBODY ELSE a shot before Franco dies of exhaustion.
Source; ScreenCrave

Emile Hirsch is one of those guys who could have taken the easy route to quick success. After wowing audiences with indie fare like The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys and The Emperor's Club, he segued into bigger films like Gus Van Sant's Oscar-winning Milk and The Wachowski's doomed Speed Racer before taking a lengthy hiatus. He's been quietly making movies, like this summer's alien invasion thriller The Darkest Hour and the low-budget Killer Joe, but according to Variety he's nabbed his first "leading role" since Speed Racer in an adaptation of Willy Vlautin's Motel Life.
Alan and Gabriel Polsky (Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans) are producing through their Polsky Films banner and may take on directing and scripting duties as they have not yet locked a filmmaker. The story centers on two brothers who flee their Reno motel room after getting involved in a fatal hit-and-run accident. A few others roles need to be cast before the film can move forward, but the goal is to shoot sometime this year.
I find Hirsch to be one of the most gifted young performers in the industry and his choice of roles conveys maturity well beyond his years. After starring in a big budget movie like Speed Racer, most actors his age would've continued to pursue popcorn projects on that scale even if they were as hollow as Michele Bachmann's cranium. Not Hirsch. Even though he did take on The Darkest Hour in a year where alien invasion flicks are releasing every other month, its hand-held camera style, unique setting and impressive cast and crew suggest a different take on the sub-genre of sci-fi. With Motel Life, Hirsch continues to avoid mainstream movies in favor of very specific cinema and he'll build on his reputation as an actor who can transform with ease.
Final Note: I'm not sure why Variety calls this his first leading role since Speed Racer, as he appears to be the male lead in The Darkest Hour. True, it's an ensemble cast, but Motel Life seems to be too.
Source: Variety

January
Matthew McConaughey became the first new celebrity dad of 2010 when he and Camila Alves welcomed baby Vida into the world, but they weren't the only couple celebrating births. Mark Wahlberg and Will Ferrell experienced the joys of fatherhood all over again, while supermodel Claudia Schiffer and actress Monica Bellucci were bursting with excitement after announcing their pregnancies.
Love was certainly in the air - actor Josh Duhamel renewed his vows with Fergie, and British model Sophie Dahl became Mrs. Jamie Cullum. Russell Brand confirmed plans to wed Katy Perry, and Michael Buble got down on bended knee to propose to model Luisana Lopilato.
The same couldn't be said for Charlize Theron and Stuart Townsend - they called it quits after nine years together. A cancer-stricken Dennis Hopper filed for divorce from his wife, and sporting pair Chris Evert and Greg Norman finalised the dissolution of their 18-month marriage.
There were new troubles for embattled celebrity offspring - Farrah Fawcett and Ryan O'Neal's boy Redmond was jailed after another drugs bust, and the future was bleak for Michael Douglas' actor son Cameron, who prepared for a lengthy prison sentence after pleading guilty to drug trafficking charges.
Meanwhile, illusionist David Copperfield was cleared of rape allegations, and actor Rip Torn was arrested after he was found passed out on the floor of a Connecticut bank, clutching a gun. Diff'rent Strokes star Gary Coleman was arrested on allegations of domestic assault and then hospitalised following a number of seizures.
Bad health also struck Dexter's Michael C. Hall, who was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma, just as Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber revealed he had overcome prostate cancer.
The music industry mourned the death of R&amp;B legend Teddy Pendergrass when he lost his battle with colon cancer, while the literary world was hit hard with the passing of beloved author J.D. Salinger.
Awards season was in full swing and Beyonce, Kings of Leon and Taylor Swift ruled the 2010 Grammy Awards, while director James Cameron's Avatar collected top honours at the Golden Globes and the Critics' Choice Movie Awards.
In the TV world, Simon Cowell confirmed he was stepping down as an American Idol judge, Miley Cyrus announced she was turning her back on Hannah Montana, and Ugly Betty got the axe from network executives.
Elsewhere, George Clooney led the Hope For Haiti Now telethon to raise funds for the Haitian victims of the 12 January earthquake, enlisting pals Jack Nicholson, Ben Affleck and Mel Gibson to man the phones as Madonna, Bono and Beyonce performed for charity. Clooney, Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Sandra Bullock and Gisele Bundchen all led by example and donated huge sums to the relief efforts, and the telethon raised more than $57 million (£35.6 million).
Jessica Biel and Emile Hirsch fronted another big charity drive when they joined a team of stars to climb Mount Kilimanjaro, drawing attention to Africa's chronic water shortage. They reached the Tanzanian peak for the Summit on the Summit: Kilimanjaro campaign on 12 January, six days after embarking on the challenge.
February
February was marked by tragedy when celebrated fashion designer Alexander Mcqueen was found dead after hanging himself at his London home. Meanwhile, investigations into Michael Jackson’s death in June, 2009 loomed as coroner’s officials determined acute intoxication of powerful anaesthetic Propofol was the cause. The ruling prompted prosecutors to file involuntary manslaughter charges against his former doctor Conrad Murray. Officials also ruled Brittany Murphy’s death in December, 2009 was accidental and caused by pneumonia, aided by anaemia and drug intoxication. Andrew Koenig’s family continued to mourn after his body was found in Vancouver following an apparent suicide. Marie Osmond also grieved the apparent suicide death of her 18-year-old son.
Nancy Kerrigan’s family was rocked by controversy after her brother, Mark, became the target of an investigation of their father’s homicide. Meanwhile, Etta James’ son revealed the singer had been secretly battling Alzheimer's disease for more than a year.
But there were still celebrations in Hollywood. James Cameron’s sci-fi film Avatar became the highest grossing movie in the U.S. and the U.K. His ex-wife, Kathryn Bigelow, had something to boast about too when her war drama, The Hurt Locker, scored nine Oscar nods, the same amount as Cameron’s cinematic sensation. She also won top awards at the BAFTAs.
The world watched as Canada's brightest stars including Bryan Adams, Nelly Furtado, K.D. lang and Joni Mitchell teamed up to help launch the Winter Olympics in the country. And in London, Lady Gaga walked away with the BRIT Awards’ top honours. Beatles drummer Ringo Starr unveiled his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and The Beatles' favourite recording studio Abbey Road was awarded historic status by the British government. Celine Dion, Kanye West, and Jennifer Hudson were among singers who recorded vocals for Quincy Jones and Lionel Richie's revamped We Are The World track to raise money for earthquake-ravaged Haiti. The country's biggest celebrity activist Sean Penn was caught in controversy and charged with criminal battery and vandalism following a violent run-in with a paparazzo, while Lil Wayne celebrated winning a postponement on his prison sentence for weapons possession.
It was a romantic month for several stars who announced plans to wed, including Nicole Richie and Joel Madden, Hilary Duff and ice hockey ace Mike Comrie, and Dave Annabelle and Odette Yustman. Kristen Bell revealed boyfriend Dax Shepard had proposed back in December, 2009. Meanwhile, Sienna Miller, who called off her engagement to Jude Law in 2006, rekindled her romance with the actor. Several stars welcomed bundles of joy, including Padma Lakshmi, Boris Becker, Sarah Jane Morris and Gary Busey. February wasn’t such a loved-up month for Ryan Phillippe and Abbie Cornish, or Cheryl Cole and her soccer star husband Ashley - both couples split. John Mayer risked the wrath of ex Jessica Simpson after referring to her as “sexual napalm”.
Public scandal took over headlines when Tiger Woods finally addressed reports he cheated on ex-wife Elin Nordegren with several mistresses and announced plans to return to rehab for sex therapy. Exes waged war in court, including Dennis Hopper, who won a restraining order against his estranged wife. Charlie Sheen was charged with felony menacing, third degree assault and misdemeanour criminal mischief stemming from an alleged altercation with his now-estranged wife, Brooke Mueller. Both parties checked in to rehab.
March
It was a shocking way to start the spring as March saw two of Hollywood's biggest star couples announce break-ups - Kate Winslet parted ways with her second husband Sam Mendes after seven years and Sandra Bullock's Oscar win was overshadowed after she found out partner Jesse James had cheated on her.
March wasn't any better for Take That's Mark Owen, who was also accused of cheating on his longtime girlfriend Emma Ferguson with 10 women - and he later revealed he's a struggling alcoholic and checked himself into rehab.
More scandals came as the month progressed, with fiery supermodel Naomi Campbell accused of attacking her driver by striking him on the head, and Michael Jackson's mum Katherine visited by welfare officials in Los Angeles over allegations one of her grandkids had purchased a stun gun.
Rapper J-Kwon was reported as a missing person after he failed to get in contact with his loved ones for more than a month, and reclusive R&amp;B star D'Angelo was arrested in New York for offering an undercover cop cash for oral sex.
Other stars facing a tough time included Lil Wayne, who began an eight-month stretch behind bars stemming from a 2007 weapon possession arrest, and Lindsay Lohan, who had a fashion flop on her hands after being axed as the artistic advisor of style house Emanuel Ungaro following a slated catwalk collection.
But it wasn't all doom and gloom - Kathryn Bigelow made Oscars history when she became the first female to land the top director Academy Award for her war movie The Hurt Locker, beating ex-husband James Cameron in the process. Music mogul Simon Cowell confirmed his engagement to make-up artist Mezhgan Hussainy while others to put a ring on it included Friends star David Schwimmer, who proposed to his photographer girlfriend Zoe Buckman, and Sacha Baron Cohen and Isla Fisher, who enjoyed a small private wedding ceremony in Paris, France.
There was also a string of spring babies - Shakespeare In Love star Joseph Fiennes became a first-time father after welcoming a daughter, while Kevin Costner announced he was set to become a dad for a seventh time. Hollywood stars Eric Dane and Rebecca Gayheart also became parents for the first time after the actress gave birth to a baby girl.
While March saw ups and downs for some of Tinseltown's finest, others were looking on the bright side - Ricky Martin confirmed the worst kept secret in pop by announcing he's homosexual, while Will &amp; Grace star Sean Hayes also decided to come out of the closet and spoke for the first time about his sexuality.
Every fan of 1980s movies was left devastated after hearing Corey Haim had died from a drug overdose - the Lost Boys star was aged 38. The month also saw the passings of Little Women star Richard Stapley, veteran British actor Martin Benson and beloved U.S. TV star Fess Parker.
April
The eruption of a volcano in Iceland at the end of March meant the following month was dogged by stories of stranded stars as a giant ash cloud swept over northern Europe and closed airports across the continent.
California's Coachella festival was under threat as a number of acts cancelled their slots when they were unable to fly out to the U.S.
Several movie premieres were also affected in the chaos - the Iron Man 2 red carpet event in London was moved to Los Angeles when stars including Robert Downey, Jr. were unable to jet to Britain. Miley Cyrus also scrapped plans to unveil her film The Last Song in the British capital due to the cancelled flights.
TV stars Chace Crawford and Kiefer Sutherland were both stranded in London after the ash cloud hit, and the 24 actor made the most of his extended stay by taking trips to some of Britain's best-known landmarks, including a day out to visit Stonehenge.
But many celebrities refused to let a little bit of volcano ash get in the way of their work - Metallica continued their tour by swapping planes for roads and railways, while Status Quo drove back to Britain after finding themselves stuck in Russia. John Cleese was stranded in Norway, so he paid $4,950 (£3,300) for a taxi to take him to Belgium, where he caught a train back to London.
In non-volcano-related news, Sandra Bullock sent shockwaves through the showbiz world when she came out fighting after her husband Jesse James' cheating scandal in March. The Oscar winner announced she had filed for divorce and stunned the world by revealing she had also adopted a baby son, Louis. Bullock admitted the couple had taken charge of their new son back in January, but kept the news quiet and after splitting from James she resolved to raise the baby on her own.
Another high profile celebrity split hit headlines when Mel Gibson ended his year-long romance with Russian musician Oksana Grigorieva, the mother of his baby daughter, Lucia. The couple didn't give a reason for the break-up, but Grigorieva subsequently hinted "you will find out everything quite soon". Jim Carrey and Jenny Mccarthy also ended their five-year romance.
The music world was rocked when Brett Michaels suffered two serious health scares in April. The Poison rocker was admitted to hospital for an emergency appendectomy at the beginning of the month and just weeks later he collapsed after suffering a brain haemorrhage. The rocker was in a critical condition, but slowly began his recovery. Another shock for music fans came with the death of former Sex Pistols manager and punk icon Malcolm Mclaren, who lost his battle with cancer.
April was a sad month for Dynasty fans after two of the show's former stars died within days of each other. John Forsythe passed away from complications relating to pneumonia and his death was followed by the passing of his onscreen brother Christopher Cazenove, who lost a battle with blood poisoning just six days later.
The scandal of the month came when Desperate Housewives actress Nicollette Sheridan filed a multi-million dollar lawsuit against the show's creator, Marc Cherry. The actress claimed he slapped her during an argument over the script and then fired her when she complained to producers.
Sheridan's co-stars, Teri Hatcher, Eva Longoria Parker, Felicity Huffman and Marcia CrosS, all took Cherry's side.
May
There were wedding bells this month for Scissor Sisters singer Ana Matronic and her boyfriend Seth Kirby, and actors Seth Green and Clare Grant. Meanwhile, Mariah Carey and Nick Cannon sealed their love by renewing their wedding vows for the third time.
May was not such a happy month for Boyzone singer Ronan Keating, who split from his wife Yvonne, and he wasn't the only one facing heartache - former Bond girl Halle Berry split from Gabriel Aubry after more than four years together, and Buffy The Vampire Slayer star David Boreanaz's marriage was plunged into crisis when he admitted cheating on his wife.
Several stars heard the pitter-patter of tiny feet this month - Monica Bellucci gave birth to her second daughter, Leonie, supermodel Claudia Schiffer delivered her third child, daughter Cosima, and Amy Adams became a first-time mum after giving birth to daughter Aviana.
John Travolta and his wife Kelly Preston had something to smile about after the death of son Jett in 2009, when they confirmed the actress was expecting another child, and it was double joy for singer Alicia Keys - she became engaged to producer Swizz Beatz and announced her pregnancy.
Meanwhile, Hollywood paid tribute to legendary actor Dennis Hopper when he died at the age of 74 after a battle against prostate cancer, and Diff'rent Strokes star Gary Coleman passed away at the age of 42 after suffering a brain haemorrhage in a fall at his home.
There was further tragedy for the Redgrave dynasty when Lynn Redgrave died aged 67 after a long battle with breast cancer, and Brittany Murphy's grieving widower Simon Monjack was found dead at his home.
The rock world was plunged into mourning when Ronnie James Dio lost his battle with stomach cancer at the age of 67, swiftly followed by the sudden death of Slipknot bassist Paul Gray, 38, who was found dead in a hotel room in Iowa after an accidental drug overdose.
Former The Temptations star Ali-Ollie Woodson died from leukaemia, aged 58, and veteran actress/singer Lena Horne succumbed to heart failure at 92.
On the scandal front, Charlie Sheen's troubles mounted when he surrendered legal custody of his two children with ex-wife Denise Richards, and Miley Cyrus showed she's growing up fast when she was caught on camera dirty dancing with a 44-year-old movie producer in a nightclub. Lindsay Lohan was ordered by a court to wear an alcohol-monitoring ankle tag in a bid to help beat her drink and drug demons, and troubled actor Michael Madsen was hospitalised following a nine-day booze binge in Britain.
Bono was rushed to hospital for emergency surgery on his back, leading to the cancellation of U2's hotly-anticipated Glastonbury headline slot the following month.
June
June was a bumper wedding month with Megan Fox and Brian Austin Green marrying on a beach in Hawaii, while Harrison Ford and Calista Flockhart wed after seven years together. Gemma Arterton married Stefano Catelli, and Alanis Morissette married MC Souleye. British newsman Piers Morgan wed Celia Walden and Mena Suvari married music producer Simone Sestitos. Glee star Jane Lynch married Lara Embry in a civil partnership ceremony – and love was also in the air for Orlando Bloom, who announced his engagement to longterm girlfriend Miranda Kerr.
Ugly Betty star America Ferrera became engaged to Ryan Piers Williams, while Kate Hudson hit headlines when she started dating MUSE frontman Matt Bellamy.
It was a baby boom month - Kevin Costner became a dad for the seventh time, Sheryl Crow adopted her second son, director Sofia Coppola welcomed another daughter, and R&amp;B star Ne-Yo announced he is to be a father for the first time.
June was not such a good month love wise for actor Mark-Paul Gosselaar, who filed for divorce from his wife of 13 years. Meanwhile British singer Leona Lewis split from her childhood sweetheart and Twilight's Nikki Reed broke up with Paris Latsis. Brandy's romance with rapper Flo Rida came to an end, Welsh singer Charlotte Church split from fiance Gavin Henson, and former U.S. vice president Al Gore split from his wife of 40 years.
Rock stars were in mourning when former Stereophonics star Stuart Cable passed away, former The Kinks bassist Pete Quaife also died, and country music legend Jimmy Dean passed away at the age of 81. Hollywood was saddened when Golden Girls star Rue McClanahan died aged 76 after suffering a major stroke and actor/director Corey Allen passed away. Zorro star Eugenia Paul also died at the age of 75.
June also caused havoc for the music industry with numerous gigs being axed - Drake, Jay-Z, Ke$ha and Grace Jones all had to cancel shows, while illness caused cancellations for John Mayer, Cher and Wolfmother, and SUM 41 brought the curtain down on their European tour after Steve Jocz was involved in a car crash.
Gossip Girl star Chace Crawford was in the news following his arrest for pot possession, while Motley Crue frontman Vince Neil and The Sopranos star Joseph Gannascoli were arrested separately on suspicion of driving under the influence (DUI). Meanwhile it was also another DUI arrest for actor Chris Klein - he then checked himself into a rehabilitation facility to deal with alcohol addiction later in the month.
Incarcerated rapper Lil Wayne's troubles worsened - he was sentenced to three years probation after striking a plea deal with U.S. prosecutors in relation to a 2008 drugs charge.
Other notable events in June included the launch of the soccer World Cup tournament, which saw stars including the Black Eyed Peas, Shakira, Alicia Keys and John Legend perform at the opening ceremony in South Africa. There was also a flurry of tributes on the one-year anniversary of Michael Jackson's death, and Larry King announced plans to retire from his 25-year run as the host of CNN talk show Larry King Live.
A number of awards were also handed out - The Twilight Saga: New Moon was the big winner at the MTV Movie Awards in Los Angeles, picking up four honours, while Sandra Bullock and Scarlett Johansson caused a stir by locking lips onstage at the ceremony. Chris Brown stole the show at the 2010 BET Awards when he performed a dance tribute to Michael Jackson, while Alicia Keys and Drake were crowned the big winners.

Matthew McConaughey can’t undo the damage of his last few films - Ghosts of Girlfriends Past, Fool's Gold, Surfer, Dude…the list goes on - but he can try to make us forget them. His plan? Ditching the RomCom circuit and diving into darker fare as the lead in Voltage Pictures’ new black comedy, Killer Joe.
Based off of Tracy Letts’ 1994 stage play, the story follows a full-time cop and part-time hired killer, as he carries out a plot hatched by a few greedy Texans to kill off the family matriarch for insurance money. Surprise, surprise - McConaughey will get to show off that famous slow, southern drawl.
Emile Hirsch, who’s bitten off a few hearty roles including supporting Sean Penn’s Harvey Milk and taking the lead in Into the Wild, will play the young greedy Texan to McConaughey’s Killer Joe. It’s really no surprise that he’d play the serious evildoer to McConaughey’s hired killer, since Hirsch has made a name for himself with a slew of serious parts, even opting for the somber side as the lead in Speed Racer. It looks like this role won’t take him too far away from that comfort zone.
Director William Friedkin brings his signature style of intrigue to the plate, hopefully redeeming him from a few recent stints as a guest director for two episodes of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.
The big question lies with Killer Joe himself. Though McConaughey has graced the silver screen since he was scamming on high school girls in Dazed and Confused, he’s relied on his tan, abs, and two-time “Sexiest-Man-Alive” status to carry him for the last few years. Here’s hoping he brings the crazy – you know, that wide-eyed, maniacal gaze partnered with his jittery, overly-ecstatic delivery – and this Killer Joe may just be, well … killer.
Source: Deadline

Blazes have been raging across the country's forested areas since the beginning of the month (Aug10) due to an unprecedented heatwave, and movie bosses have decided to call off a planned shoot, which was scheduled for this week (begs09Aug10).
Production of the alien thriller has been axed for at least the next two weeks in the hope the fires will settle down - but Hirsch is worried about the residents of Moscow.
In a piece for The Huffington Post, he writes, "As of now, the average mortality rate in Moscow has doubled from its average to 700 per day. As if the sweltering, oppressive roast of the heat wasn't enough, enter the fires. All across Russia fires have been ignited in peat bogs, or underground marshes.
"With hundreds springing up per day across Russia - some of them even as close as forty kilometres outside Moscow - the country is under the merciless siege of a natural disaster.
"Most of the 16 million people of Moscow and the countryside surrounding it can't simply be generously put on a jet like me by a powerful corporation and flown across the world to a home of safety and fresh air.
"Most of the people will have to stay... May we in return have them stay in our thoughts and hearts through this disaster. And let us not forget what we may all be partially responsible for - the accelerated climate change of our fragile planet."

The Easy Virtue star joined actor Emile Hirsch among other celebrities for the charity climb - and now she has a checklist of adventures she wants to tackle.
She tells Glamour magazine, "I want to scuba dive a sunken ship. I would like to sail around some part of the world and live on a boat.
"I (also) have a love of Egyptology. I would like to go there (Egypt) and see the Pyramids. (I wanted) to be Indiana Jones and dig for bones and find mummies."

The actress trekked to the top of Kilimanjaro, Africa's highest peak, in January (10).
She was joined by actor Emile Hirsch and members of the United Nation Foundation, to raise awareness and funds for the global water crisis.
And now she's set her sights on another dangerous climb - one of the Everest base camps in Nepal or Tibet.
She tells People.com, "I'm thinking about trekking to Everest base camp. That's kind of the next goal."

Source: Variety
He's taken on high-octane racing adventures, cerebral dramas and fascinating character studies but now, Emile Hirsch will find himself in the middle of an alien invasion. Variety reports that the actor will join Olivia Thirlby in New Regency and Summit Entertainment's The Darkest Hour, a thriller about a group of kids struggling to survive in Russia after an alien invasion.
Chris Gorak is set to direct from a script by Les Bohem and Jon Spaihts. Timur Bekmambetov and Tom Jacobson are producing the $40 million production, which is scheduled to start in Moscow this June.
The project is described as a 28 Days Later-like thriller, with aliens taking the terrorizing place of the infected walking dead from that 2002 horror flick. What do we think of the developing production? Let's review:
Alien invasion.
Emile Hirsch and Olivia Thirlby
28 Days Later-like vibe.
Sign us up today!

Starred as Duncan, a fourteen-year-old misfit farm boy trying to cope with his mother's death in "The Mudge Boy"

Made television debut on the series "Kindred: The Embraced"

Starred with Sigourney Weaver and Jeff Daniels in the family drama "Imaginary Heroes"

Cast opposite Elisha Cuthbert in the comedy "The Girl Next Door"

Played a Vietnam vet in Ang Lee's "Taking Woodstock"

Summary

Often likened to River Phoenix and Leonardo DiCaprio for his boyish good looks and penchant toward portraying intense, but thoughtful characters, Emile Hirsch began his career as a teenaged guest actor in television dramas before earning a solid dramatic reputation in indie films. Following an acclaimed starring role in "The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys" (2002), Hirsch starred alongside Heath Ledger in the cult biopic "Lords of Dogtown" (2005) and brought coming-of-age complexity and considerable charisma to the fact-based crime drama "Alpha Dog" (2007). He next turned in an astounding performance as a peripatetic young idealist in Sean Penn's "Into the Wild" (2007), which earned the young actor a great deal of critical acclaim and several award nominations. Hirsch followed up by co-starring opposite Penn in "Milk" (2008), Gus Van Sant's Oscar-winning biopic about slain San Francisco politician and openly gay activist, Harvey Milk. He took a few steps back with a starring role in the critical and commercial flop "Speed Racer" (2008), and was virtually off the map in little-seen films like "Taking Woodstock" (2009) and "The Darkest Hour" (2011). Working with such venerated directors as William Friedkin and Oliver Stone, Hirsch attempted a course correction with offerings like "Killer Joe" (2012) and "Savages" (2012). One of the most committed and promising young talents of his generation, Hirsch consistently impressed with each new role.

Name

Role

Comments

Margaret Davenport

Mother

Designed pop-up books; moved with son to Santa Fe, New Mexico after she divorced Emile's father

Brianna Domont

Companion

Dated for two years from 2008-2010

David Hirsch

Father

Divorced from Emile's mother

Jenny Hirsch

Sister

Older; lives in Manhattan; married with two children

Education

Name

Hamilton High School

Paul Revere Middle School

Notes

"I think a lot of actors feel like they have to make everyone happy. I feel like that too in a way, but I also know I'm there to play a role. I don't look at it like it's a getting-to-know-you experience. What's important to me is the performance. But, when were not shooting, it's completely different." - Hirsch to actor Vincent D'Onofrio, in Interview magazine, April 2004

"Acting is like being very willing to battle or achieve something, Playing another person, in the dark. And being happy about it, being professional." - Hirsch to actor Ben Foster, in Interview magazine, February 2007